“I have lots of sisters and brothers. Max, Jackson and Callum are my brothers. Claire, Payton and Ava are my sisters. My mum is called Marie and my dad is called Grant. And I have two nieces and a nephew. Claire, my sister, has two little girls, Eliza and Niamh. And my brother, Jackson, has a little boy called Teddy. My brother Max will have a baby in a few months too, and my twin sister is having a baby too. So I’ll be an uncle to five small people.” Christmas was going to get very expensive.
Her hand squeezed mine and when I glanced at her little face she looked sulky. “I don’t like Eliza and Niamh and Teddy.”
I turned round to Georgia and mouthed for help.
She looked like she was trying to stop a smile.
I glared.
“They’re all a bit younger than you. Eliza is nearly three, and the other two are just babies. But maybe when they’re older you could show them how to play or read.”
“No.” I’d seen this a couple of times before, usually when she was tired. Once it had ended in a full blown meltdown which included tears.
I looked at Georgia again.
“She’s jealous.” She mouthed the words.
“What?” I mouthed it back, wondering if parents were sent on a lip reading course before any baby was born.
“She’s jealous of your nieces. She thinks you’re hers.” Her mouthing of words was a bit over the top now. Maybe that course wasn’t that good.
Rose stopped walking, which meant I stopped too. Her bottom lip was up and her foot stomped.
Shit. I had no clue what to do with a public meltdown with a four-year-old, and I didn’t want my Rose to be jealous. There was no need.
I squatted down so I was her level, her little skinny arms going round my neck. “What’s the matter?”
She shook her head and I saw tears starting. My heart broke, probably more than Cassie had ever managed to do.
“Okay.” I scooped her up, her legs locking on to the sides of my chest, burying in the side of my neck. I hugged her to me and carried on walking to the elephants that were now just a few metres away. I felt Georgia’s hand on my back, giving me a slight rub. “Do you want to see the elephants?”
I felt Rose shake her head. Shit. I’d really thought that they would be enough to distract her.
“Are you upset because I talked about my nieces and nephew?” No point beating around the bush.
There was a nod. Her head shifted onto my chest so she could see the animals. I considered that progress.
I wanted to tell her that she was different to them, because she was, and it was only now I was realising just how much. And how fast this was going.
“I think you’d like them more if you met them.”
She squished closer to me. This was clingy Rose. I looked to the skies, apologised and understood my mother for one of the first times.
“But you know you’re my favourite, don’t you?”
The squishing stopped getting any harder. I kissed the top of her head. “And you’re definitely the best reader.”
She snuggled in now. “Elephants are the biggest land animal in the world.”
I looked down, seeing her eyes open, still a bit teary, but looking at the elephants. I rejigged her in my arms, figuring I’d be carrying her round for a bit longer.
Thank god we’d mapped a sensible route that wasn’t seventy miles long.
Chapter Twenty
Georgia
Ichecked my phone for the third time, seeing no other text messages than the one Seph’d sent about an hour ago, that had included a photo of him and Rose, curled up in front of the TV, watching Cinderella and him wearing a crown. It was a selfie with both of them making duck lips, only my daughter looked like she was desperate to laugh. I suspected there were a few more selfies on his phone that had her giggling her head off, because Seph would’ve been silly as they’d taken the photo. Just to make her laugh.
